Why is sperm white?

Many studies have shown that men produce 2 to 5 milliliters of semen with a sperm count of not less than 20 million per milliliter. That is why it is not surprising how many chances a man can get a woman pregnant in just a single sexual intercourse.

Semen is a substance that only men can produce. The semen contains millions of sperm cells that function mainly for reproduction. The semen serves as a mode of transportation for the sperm cells to thrive once they enter the female reproductive system. Due to the various substances that comprise the semen such as putrescine, spermine, spermidine, cadaverine, which are alkaline in nature, the sperm is able to survive the acid environment of the vagina.

However, how the semen functions is not what makes many people get interested in, what many people get interested into is the reason behind the semen’s color.

Semen is naturally white in color. The semen is formed because of the mixture of substances that the sperm passes through during ejaculation. In ejaculation, there are four known passages in which the sperm passes through. These are the ejaculatory ducts, the seminal vesicles, the prostate gland and the bulbourethral gland. The sperm first passes the ejaculatory ducts, which provides the sperm with a number of male hormones known as testosterone. The sperm then mixes with the fluid contained in the seminal vesicles, which are high in fructose that gives essential nutrients to the sperm cells. After that, the sperm mixes again with fluid contents found in the prostate and bulbourethral glands. These glands contain clear to white secretions that provides enzymes needed for biochemical processes involved in the production of semen. Semen, then, is white because as it is formed, its pathways contain fluids that make semen white in color.